Making the Most of Open Enrollment
September 01, 2026
Making the Most of Open Enrollment
A look at the value already being created for employees during open enrollment, and where the opportunity goes further.
Open enrollment, the window each year when employees make their benefits selections, gives employees more reason to engage with their benefits than any other point in the year, and Financial Finesse’s Financial Wellness Think Tank™ data shows they respond accordingly. Webcast attendance climbs sixfold, coaching calls nearly seven times, and use of its online financial wellness hub more than doubles, all compared with the rest of the year.1 For clients already offering Financial Finesse, that surge is a genuine opportunity: many of the employees showing up during open enrollment are engaging with the benefit for the first time, and the guidance they receive measurably eases the financial stress that so often accompanies benefits decisions.
This report explores how that opportunity takes shape in practice: the scale of engagement already underway, the value employees find in the program whether they attend a webcast or work directly with a coach, and the added reach that on-site delivery offers for employees who are not sitting at a desk.
Webcasts and coaching cover most of the workforce, but not every employee sits at a computer during the day. Two client examples illustrate the value of extending the benefit on-site, through both individual and group sessions.
On-site delivery, whether in one-on-one sessions or group workshops, extends the reach of open enrollment communication to employees who are less likely to engage through a screen. On-site coaching is worth considering for groups that are particularly difficult to engage online, or that are experiencing a significant change to their benefits.
What makes this surge valuable is that it is not a one-time fluke. It repeats every year across the client base, which means clients can plan around it with confidence. Employees do not simply need to be reminded that Financial Finesse exists during open enrollment; they actively seek it out, whether that means logging into the online hub, attending a webcast, or picking up the phone to talk with a coach. Clients that lean into that existing momentum, promoting the program more heavily during this window rather than spreading communication evenly across the year, are working with employee behavior rather than against it.
Open enrollment does more than intensify engagement among employees already familiar with Financial Finesse. It also draws a disproportionate share of employees who are engaging with the benefit for the first time. Thirty-three percent of employees who attend an open enrollment-focused webcast are engaging with the financial wellness benefit for the first time, compared with 22 percent for webcasts on other topics throughout the year, roughly one and a half times the rate.1 Open enrollment, in other words, is a great opportunity to reach employees who might not otherwise engage with their benefit at all.
For many employees, that first touch does not end there. Thirty-two percent of employees who first engaged with Financial Finesse through an open enrollment webcast have already re-engaged with the benefit in less than a year, through another webcast, a coaching session, or the online hub, and likely more as the rest of that year plays out.1 For a meaningful share of the workforce, open enrollment is the reason they started using a benefit that might otherwise have gone untouched.
Whether an employee attends a webcast or works directly with a coach, the response is strong.
That satisfaction carries through into the numbers Financial Finesse tracks for loyalty: open enrollment webcasts carry a net promoter score of 87, and individual coaching sessions booked during open enrollment carry a net promoter score of 94.1 For context, a Net Promoter Score is generally considered good above 20 and excellent above 70 on the standard scale used across industries.2 Financial services firms see a typical median score of 60 and an excellent score starting around 78.3 Both of the scores Financial Finesse sees during open enrollment sit well above those thresholds.
The value of open enrollment engagement extends beyond usage figures. Employees who attend an open enrollment benefits event report a measurable decline in financial stress. Financial Finesse’s Financial Wellness Think Tank™ data shows a 40 percent net decrease in the number of employees reporting overwhelming or high financial stress after attending an open enrollment event, alongside a 36 percent net decrease among returning users overall.1 Both figures point to just how effective these engagements are at easing the stress that so often surrounds financial decisions.
Attendees describe this effect in their own words. Comments collected from open enrollment webcast attendees point to the same theme: clarity in place of confusion, and calm in place of stress.1
Anita was engaging and made things easy to understand, made me feel smart, not stressed and enthusiastic about benefits.
Anita was well informed and provided much needed clarity regarding the change in benefits, along with their cost comparison.
Benefits were explained in easy to understand terms and helped me know what is available and would be useful for me to use.
Extremely tailored to me and presented in an easy-to-understand format. This stuff is confusing, so it was nice to have it broken down for us.
For me being relatively new to the US, it was very helpful to understand the differences in various health plans.
It helped me look at medical plans in ways other than least coming out of paycheck.
Overview of benefits available and how to discern what will serve me best.
Very useful information, helps me understand and maximize my benefits.
Promote the program as a whole
Webcasts and coaching each earn strong satisfaction scores during open enrollment. Communicating the full range of support available lets employees engage in the way that suits them best.
Treat open enrollment as an acquisition moment
Because a disproportionate share of first-time users engage during this window, promotion aimed at employees who have never used the benefit deserves as much attention as reminders sent to existing users.
Extend delivery on-site where it counts most
On-site coaching is worth considering for groups that are particularly difficult to engage online, or that are experiencing a significant change to their benefits. In-person group and individual sessions during open enrollment produce engagement gains that virtual delivery alone does not reach.
Open enrollment is already a highpoint for engagement. The opportunity in front of most clients is to make fuller use of the moment: promoting the full range of program support, and extending delivery on-site where the workforce is not sitting at a desk.
Financial Finesse’s data suggests the return on that effort compounds. Thirty-two percent of employees who first engaged with the benefit during open enrollment have already re-engaged with it in less than a year, and that figure is likely a floor, since some have not yet reached a full year since their first engagement. Either way, it is engagement that, for many of them, may not have happened at all without that open enrollment moment.1
References
Data cited throughout this report is drawn from Financial Finesse’s Financial Wellness Think Tank™, including engagement records across webcasts, financial coaching sessions, and the online financial wellness hub, together with post-engagement survey responses collected from open enrollment participants across Financial Finesse’s client base. Company examples are drawn from anonymized client engagements and are not attributable to any single named organization. Net Promoter Score benchmarks are drawn from independent third-party industry research and are cited separately from Financial Finesse’s own data.